In recent years, an information processing apparatuses constituted with plural modules, in which programs including a control program and a control modules are stored in a flash ROM in preparation for short-term development or after-sales function update or bag correction, is rapidly becoming popular.
On the other hand, attention to the environment is further increased in commercial scene, and various ideas to reduce electric consumption in waiting time and off status have been made. For example, with an electric power control module as a main module, respective control modules are interconnected with plural control signals or communication signals, and the respective modules change the status of electric power under the control of the electric power control module.
In this information processing apparatus, the control module program (hereinafter, simply referred to as a “control module”) including peripheral control functions of a power switch must be rewritten in a particularly careful manner. If the rewriting of the control module fails, there is a possibility that even the electric power of the apparatus cannot be turned ON again. For this reason, generally, the rewriting of the flash ROM holding the control module including the peripheral control functions of the power switch is still in a developmental stage but is not open to the users.
As described above, several restrictions are placed on the operation of rewriting of the control module including the peripheral control functions of the power switch, and the greatest restriction is to unplug an AC power source when the rewriting has been completed, then after some period of time, plug the AC power again, i.e., to perform hard reset after the completion of rewriting.
Further, notification of in-rewriting status or completion of the rewriting of the control module is limited to display on an LED or the like, and still insufficient to general users.